Wednesday, March 26, 2008

tri packing

packing for an out of town triathlon is a lot of work. i packed less for a 3 week vacation to europe. for once i can give kristin about all the stuff she's packing because i've got way more with me than she's ever packed for a trip :)consider that i need all the goodies for an open water swim (wetsuit, goggles, swim cap, slippers, & towel), a bike ride (bike, bike shoes, tri shorts, tri top, food while on the bike, bike box (we'll talk about this one in more detail) sun glasses, water bottles, helmet, & maybe gloves), a run (running shoes, socks, visor, more nutrition - gu packs), & of course a bag to lug all this stuff around in. i'll also need some workout clothes prior to the actual race (t3 coaches say i still need to get in a run on thursday/friday & a decent bike ride). then there is the "normal" packing. i need day clothes & night clothes especially if we want to visit some nice restaurants. & of course these days no one can travel anywhere without your iPod & your laptop too.

out of all these goodies you got to bring with ya i've still got to be super good about my nutrition so we may be packing some stuff just to ensure i've got the right type of protein bars, gus, shakes, etc.

the best & most scary part of all this packing was packing up the bike. i think next time i'll definitely pay to have the bike shipped in one piece. i borrowed a bike box from my buddy ed. i was expecting the bike box to be this BIG box that had the perfect foam cut-outs for a bike. instead it's a tiny box (in comparison to what i was expecting) with basically just 3 pieces of foam inside. you practically have to take your whole bike apart to get it in there. i wasn't prepared to do this at all - thank goodness for the guys at Jack & Adam's!

even with the expertise of the Jack & Adam's crew i'm still very nervous about my bike. both wheels came off, the seat posts comes off, the pedals come off, & the handle bars come off. then the wheels are placed in the box between two of the three pieces of foam & then the bike is jammed on top just barely fitting into the box. to close the top of the box you are basically crushing the entire bike which is sort of a good thing because at least nothing (the seat & handle bars) should move around inside.

after all that work to get my new B12 & get it setup just perfectly to fit me i'm nervous about getting it put back together & having everything work/fit perfectly when we arrive in san diego. i've also got race wheels for this race that i've never been on before so i'm hoping everything synchs up well when they are put on the bike. danielle, a friend who is also doing ironman california, has an appointment for us at a local bike shop to get our bikes put together. thank goodness because i don't think i could do it right. at the end of all this we've got to repeat this entire step of breaking the bike back down & putting it back together when i get to austin. please oh please don't let anything happen to my bike!!!